Online Harassment Report - Innovative Public Health

Center for Innovative

Public Health Research

ONLINE HARASSMENT, DIGITAL ABUSE,

AND CYBERSTALKING IN AMERICA

Report 11.21.16

AMANDA LENHART, Data & Society

MICHELE YBARRA, Center for Innovative Public Health Research

KATHRYN ZICKUHR, Data & Society

MYESHIA PRICE-FEENEY, Center for Innovative Public Health Research

Online Harassment, Digital Abuse, and Cyberstalking in America

Summary of Findings

The internet and digital tools play an increasingly central role in how Americans engage with their communities:

How they find and share information; how they connect with their friends, family, and professional networks; how

they entertain themselves; how they seek answers to sensitive questions; how they learn about¡ªand access¡ª

the world around them. The internet is built on the ideal of the free flow of information, but it is also built on the

ideal of free-flowing discourse.

However, one persistent challenge to this ideal has been online harassment and abuse¡ªunwanted contact that

is used to create an intimidating, annoying, frightening, or even hostile environment for the victim and that uses

digital means to reach the target. As with their traditional expressions, online harassment and abuse can affect

many aspects of our digital lives. Even those who do not experience online harassment directly can see it and

respond to its effects; even the threat of harassment can suppress the voices of many of our citizens.

In order to explore these issues and the ways that online environments affect our experiences online, this report

examines American teens¡¯ and adults¡¯ experiences with witnessing, experiencing, and responding to the

aftermath of online harassment and abuse. Its findings are based on the results of a nationally representative

survey of 3,002 Americans 15 and older conducted from May 17th through July 31st, 2016. Respondents were

contacted by landline and cell phone, and interviews were conducted in English and Spanish.

47% of internet users have experienced online harassment or abuse

In order to examine the types of harassment and abuse that Americans have personally experienced, we

asked internet users about 20 harassing behaviors over the course of the survey. Overall, almost half (47%)

of Americans have personally experienced one of the harassing behaviors we asked about. The types of

harassing behaviors we studied fall into three broad categories:

? Direct harassment refers to things that people do directly to one another. Examples include: being called

offensive names, being threatened physically, and being stalked. 36% of internet users have experienced

this type of harassment.

? Invasion of privacy refers to harms done to the victim through the unauthorized access to and exposure or

spreading of information beyond the owner¡¯s control. Experiences include: being hacked, having information

about or images of the person exposed online without their permission, being impersonated, being

monitored, and being tracked online. 30% of internet users have experienced this type of harassment.

? Denial of access occurs when someone uses the features of the technology or platform to harm the victim,

usually by preventing access to essential digital tools or platforms. Examples include: sending a very large

number of unwanted messages, rendering the account unusable; misuse of reporting tools so that the

person is blocked from using a platform; and technical attacks that overwhelm a device, site, server or

platform and prevent access to it. 17% of internet users have experienced this type of harassment.

Overall, almost three-quarters (72%) of American internet users have witnessed online harassment or

abuse, and almost half (47%) of Americans have personally experienced one of the harassing behaviors

we asked about.

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Men and women are equally likely to face harassment, but women

experience a wider variety of online abuse, including more serious violations.

Young people and sexual minorities are also more likely to experience online

harassment or abuse¡ªand more likely to be affected by it

A common theme throughout our findings is that young people under age 30 and sexual minorities

(respondents who identified as lesbian, gay, or bisexual) were generally more likely to witness and/or experience

online harassment or abuse. Black, sexual minority, and young Americans¡ªespecially young women¡ª

are also less likely than others to say that people are mostly kind to each other online, and more likely to

say they self-censor what they post online in order to avoid harassment.

Men are substantially less likely than women to describe what they

experienced as harassment

Internet users who have experienced harassing behaviors differ as to whether they think their experience

constitutes ¡®harassment¡¯ or not. We found that women who have experienced the behaviors we asked about

were substantially more likely than men who have experienced the same behaviors to say that they thought

their experience constituted ¡®harassment or abuse¡¯ (53% of women vs. 40% of men).

Some behaviors were also more consistently considered ¡®harassment¡¯ by their targets. For instance, more than

eight in ten people who experienced cyberstalking, sexual harassment, or persistent harassment agreed that

their experiences constituted ¡®online harassment or abuse,¡¯ while fewer than six in ten people who experienced

offensive name-calling said the same.

Women were more likely than men to be angry, worried, or scared as a

result of online harassment and abuse

Among those who did say that what they experienced was online harassment and abuse, women were almost

three times as likely as men to say the harassment made them feel scared, and twice as likely to say the

harassment made them feel worried. Meanwhile, men who said they had been harassed were more likely than

women to also say they were ¡®not bothered¡¯ by the experience. However, almost all of those who were

¡®not bothered¡¯ also reported feeling another emotion (annoyed, worried, etc.) as well.

27% of all American internet users self-censor their online postings out of

fear of online harassment

More than a quarter of Americans (27%) say they have at some point decided not to post something online for

fear of attracting harassment. While many internet users who have not encountered harassment still say they

have self-censored to avoid potential harassment, people who have seen or experienced harassment online are

much more likely to self-censor for this reason than those who have not.

Looking at men and women of different age groups, we find that younger women are most likely to self-censor

to avoid potential online harassment: 41% of women ages 15 to 29 self-censor, compared with 33% of men of

the same age group and 24% of internet users ages 30 and older (men and women).

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Data & Society Research Institute | Center for Innovative Public Research

Online Harassment, Digital Abuse, and Cyberstalking in America

Four in ten young women say they have self-censored

to avoid harassment online

Among all internet users, the % in each group who say they have

decided not to post something online because they were worried

they would be harassed

Men

Women

41

33

23

Ages 15-29

24

Ages 30+

Source: Data & Society / CiPHR Measuring Cyberabuse Survey, May 17- July

31, 2016. Interviews were conducted in English and Spanish

(total n=3,002 U.S. internet users age 15 and older).

72% of internet users have witnessed at least one harassing behavior online

Almost three-quarters (72%) of internet users have witnessed online harassment. The most pronounced differences are

by age and sexual identity: Internet users under age 30 and those who identify as lesbian, gay, or bisexual are more likely

to witness all the core harassment behaviors we asked about. Black internet users are also more likely than White internet

users to have witnessed online harassment.

In addition, the type of harassment Americans see can vary by subgroup. For example, although men and women are equally

likely to see online harassment overall, women are more likely than men to have seen certain behaviors, such as cyberstalking.

A majority of witnesses have responded to harassment they saw

Many witnesses take steps to support, report, and stand up for the targets of the harassment they see.

Overall, 65% of those who witnessed online harassment reported taking at least one of these three actions:

? 45% of witnesses said something to the person targeted by the aggressor.

? 40% said something to the aggressor.

? 38% said they reported the behavior through the reporting tools available on the online platform where it took place.

More than four in ten victims of online harassment have changed contact information

to escape their abuse

We asked internet users who have experienced online harassment and abuse what, if any, measures they have taken to

protect themselves from further harassment. Taken together, 65% of victims of online harassment have used at least one

of these types of protective strategies:

? 43% changed their contact information by changing their email address or phone number, or by creating a new social

media profile under a different name.

? 33% asked for help from a friend or family member, law enforcement, or domestic violence resources.

? 27% reported or flagged content that was posted about them without their permission.

? 26% disconnected from online networks and devices by abandoning social media, the internet, or their cell phone.

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